Energy Days at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne
On the way to a sustainable energy future
How can we successfully shape the energy transition? Where do we stand today, and how do children envision a sustainable future? Answers to these and many more questions can be found during the Energy Days at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne. From October 18 to 20, the Swiss Museum of Transport, together with ETH Zurich, EPFL, PSI and Empa, will offer exciting insights into the world of energy research and provide a glimpse into a sustainable energy future.
The Swiss Museum of Transport is presenting various new exhibits and activities to coincide with the Energy Days. With the Emission Explorer, for instance, visitors can use an interactive questionnaire to determine their personal carbon footprint and find out in which areas of life they have the greatest leverage to reduce it. In a kind of sustainability dialog, they can then test how they can actively contribute to a more sustainable future.
The Emission Explorer was developed under the leadership of Empa as part of the ETH Domain's Joint Initiative Energy Science for Tomorrow (ES4T). The basis for this is Empa's MatCH study. In this study, Empa researchers surveyed Switzerland's overall energy and material flows, including greenhouse gas emissions, and calculated the average shares per inhabitant. Depending on their individual ways of life in various areas such as housing, nutrition and consumer behavior, visitors can use the Emission Explorer to find out where they stand in a Switzerland-wide comparison and what they can do to live on a smaller footprint if necessary.
“Zukunfts(K)reise” – how children imagine a sustainable future
In animated readings of stories from the textbook Zukunfts(K)reise (Journey to the Future) developed by Empa researchers, younger visitors can go on a journey of discovery together with the main characters of the book, Eva, Luna and Kami, and be inspired by nature to take sustainable approaches. The resulting wishes and ideas can be further explored and exchanged in subsequent craft and painting activities.
Together with the University of Teacher Education St. Gallen (PHSG), Empa researchers have developed visions for a sustainable future with primary school children and condensed them in the illustrated children's book “Zukunfts(K)reise”. The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) is supporting the project called Co-Creation of a Circular Future as part of its Agora program together with the household appliance manufacturer V-Zug and the trade association SWICO.
Interactive robot workshop
Robots will one day take over some of our everyday tasks, for example around the house or at work – but they also need energy, preferably from the solar panels on your own roof. On an interactive learning trail, visitors guide the robots from Smartfeld through a course to generate enough energy for the robots and robot houses, preferably before the batteries run out. On the way to their destination, the public can answer questions, shovel sand, transport solar cells and take their first steps in programming the robots.
More than 4,000 pupils attend the Smartfeld workshops and courses in St. Gallen every year, where they acquire knowledge in future-oriented subject areas such as coding, robotics, photonics, digital entrepreneurship and the spirit of innovation. Empa has been a partner of Smartfeld since the educational initiative was founded in 2018.
SynFuels – synthetic fuels for sustainable mobility
Is sustainable flying possible? What processes can be used to achieve this transition? Will future fuels be completely emission-free? Researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and Empa, who are researching the key technologies for synthetic fuels, will present their latest findings at the Energy Days and answer questions. In the SynFuels initiative funded by the ETH Board, PSI and Empa are jointly researching the possibilities of synthetic fuels to make flying more sustainable in the future.
ES4T – a Joint Initiative of the ETH Domain
ETH Zurich, EPFL, PSI and Empa are presenting various aspects of energy research at the Energy Days in the Swiss Museum of Transport. Within the Joint Initiative Energy Science for Tomorrow (ES4T), the four institutions, in partnership with the Swiss Museum of Transport, are entering into a dialog with the Swiss population in order to highlight and address ways towards a sustainable energy future with the goal of reaching net zero CO2 emissions.
